Network packet
This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2014) |
In
In
Terminology
In the seven-layer
Architecture
The basis of the packet concept is the postal letter: the header is like the envelope, the payload is the entire content inside the envelope, and the footer would be your signature at the bottom.[3]
Framing
Contents
A packet may contain any of the following components:
- Addresses
- The routing of network packets requires two network addresses, the source address of the sending host, and the destination address of the receiving host.
- Error detection and correction
- Error detection and correction is performed at various layers in the protocol stack. Network packets may contain a checksum, parity bits or cyclic redundancy checks to detect errors that occur during transmission.
- At the transmitter, the calculation is performed before the packet is sent. When received at the destination, the checksum is recalculated, and compared with the one in the packet. If discrepancies are found, the packet may be corrected or discarded. Any packet loss due to these discards is dealt with by the network protocol.
- In some cases, modifications of the network packet may be necessary while routing, in which cases checksums are recalculated.
- Hop limit
- Under fault conditions, packets can end up traversing a network hop. If the field reaches zero, routing has failed, and the packet is discarded.
- Ethernet packets have no time-to-live field and so are subject to broadcast radiation in the presence of a switching loop.
- Length
- There may be a field to identify the overall packet length. However, in some types of networks, the length is implied by the duration of the transmission.
- Protocol identifier
- It is often desirable to carry multiple communication protocols on a network. A protocol identifier field specifies a packet's protocol and allows the protocol stack to process many types of packets.
- Priority
- Some networks implement quality of service which can prioritize some types of packets above others. This field indicates which packet queue should be used; a high priority queue is emptied more quickly than lower-priority queues at points in the network where congestion is occurring.
- Payload
- In general, the payload is the data that is carried on behalf of an application. It is usually of variable length, up to a maximum that is set by the network protocol and sometimes the equipment on the route. When necessary, some networks can break a larger packet into smaller packets.
Examples
Internet protocol
IP packets are composed of a header and payload. The header consists of fixed and optional fields. The payload appears immediately after the header. An IP packet has no trailer. However, an IP packet is often carried as the payload inside an Ethernet frame, which has its own header and trailer.
Per the
NASA Deep Space Network
The Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (
MPEG packetized stream
A typical method of transmitting elementary stream data from a video or audio encoder is to first create PES packets from the elementary stream data and then to encapsulate these PES packets inside an
NICAM
In order to provide mono compatibility, the NICAM signal is transmitted on a subcarrier alongside the sound carrier. This means that the FM or AM regular mono sound carrier is left alone for reception by monaural receivers. The NICAM packet (except for the header) is scrambled with a nine-bit pseudo-random bit-generator before transmission. Making the NICAM bitstream look more like white noise is important because this reduces signal patterning on adjacent TV channels.
See also
- Anti-replay
- Fast packet switching
- Mangled packet
- Packet analyzer
- Packet generation model
- Statistical time-division multiplexing
- Tail drop
References
- ISBN 0-13-088263-1.
Packet: A group of bits that includes data plus control information. Generally refers to a network layer (OSI layer 3) protocol data unit.
- ^ "OSI Model".
- ^ "Understanding The OSI Reference Model: An Analogy", The TCP/IP Guide, archived from the original on 2014-08-09, retrieved 2014-08-09
- ^ "Chapter 5 Link Layer". www.msc.uky.edu. Retrieved 2021-10-23.